Law of Italy
The law of Italy is the system of law across the Italian Republic. The Italian legal system has a plurality of sources of production. These are arranged in a hierarchical scale, under which the rule of a lower source cannot conflict with the rule of an upper source (hierarchy of sources).[1]
The
Both the civil code and the penal code have been modified in order to be in conformity with the current democratic constitution and with social changes.[2]
Legislative power
Article 117 of the
There is also a second list of matters contained in the third paragraph of article 117 called matters of concurrent legislation, in which the Regions have legislative power, except for the determination of fundamental principles (framework laws), reserved to the State.[6]
The Government can also issue an act having the force of law (called decreto-legge, "law decree"), but this must be confirmed later by Parliament, under penalty of forfeiture of the law decree.
Still in the sphere of legislative power, there are some cases in which it belongs to the sovereign people: through the institution of the abrogative referendum and, in constitutional matters, through the institution of the confirmatory referendum of constitutional laws.[11] All laws must be promulgated by the President of the Italian Republic who can postpone it only once, otherwise he would have the right to veto a law in Parliament if he considers that it is in conflict with the Constitution.[12]
Sources of law
In Italy the legal norms originate from the following sources:[13]
- Internal sources:
- Constitution, which regulates the formation of laws and determines the discipline of regulatory acts;
- State and regional laws, as well as decrees (government acts issued when there is an urgent matter that requires timely intervention) and legislative decrees (acts issued by the government as delegated by the Parliament which establishes basic principles and indications that the government must follow to propose the law). More recently many laws were reorganised under different codes (Italian law codes) and testi unici (unified law);
- Government regulation, issued by the Government, ministers and other administrative authorities;
- Customary law, a source subordinated to the law and which can operate only within the limits permitted by the law itself.
- International sources: norms adopted by a group of states on the basis of one or more international agreements, united in a supranational organization, which stand above the individual laws of each member state but which have no direct effect on citizens. They are called treaties or agreements. In addition to written conventions, international customs must be included among the international sources.
- Acts of the European Union.
With regard to external sources art. 117 of the Italian Constitution: "Legislative power is exercised by the State and by the Regions in compliance with the Constitution, as well as with the constraints deriving from the community order and international obligations".[14]
Private law
Public law
Public law is the part of law that governs relations between legal persons and a government,[20] between different institutions within a state, between different branches of governments,[21] as well as relationships between persons that are of direct concern to society. Public law comprises constitutional law, administrative law and criminal law.[20]
Constitutional law
The Constitution primarily contains general principles; it is not possible to apply them directly. As with many written constitutions, only few articles are considered to be self-executing. The majority require enabling legislation, referred to as accomplishment of constitution.[23] This process has taken decades and some contend that, due to various political considerations, it is still not complete.
Administrative law
Criminal law
Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Criminal law includes the punishment and rehabilitation of people who violate the penal laws. In Italian law, the main regulatory body for criminal law is the Italian penal code, which is one of the sources of Italian criminal law together with the Constitution and special laws.[25] The Italian penal code was approved with Royal decree no. 1,398 of 19 October 1930, entered into force on 1 July 1931[26] and has been amended several times. The Italian penal code is organized into three books, which are in turn divided into titles, chapters, sections, paragraphs and articles, as well as 734 articles.[27] The three books deal respectively of the crimes in general, of the crimes in particular and of the misdemeanors in particular.[27]
See also
References
- ^ "GERARCHIA DELLE FONTI" (in Italian). Retrieved 26 March 2022.
- ^ a b c "Guide to Law Online: Italy | Law Library of Congress". www.loc.gov.
- ^ Occasional parliamentary majorities can have serious distortive effects on the legislation, such as ignoring warnings of qualified organs regarding the lack of an administrative or financial cover for certain provisions: Buonomo, Giampiero (2012). "Nei disegni di legge di conversione solo emendamenti "in tema"". Guida Agli Enti Locali. Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
- ^ Articolo 117, Senate of the Republic official website: www.senato.it
- ^ "Le competenze legislative alla luce del nuovo titolo V della costituzione" (in Italian). Retrieved 18 March 2022.
- ^ "La riforma costituzionale del titolo V della seconda parte della Costituzione: gli effetti sull'ordinamento" (in Italian). Retrieved 18 March 2022.
- ^ "Il Decreto Legge" (in Italian). Retrieved 18 March 2022.
- ^ "Cosa sono legge delega e decreto legislativo" (in Italian). Retrieved 18 March 2022.
- ^ "Il decreto legislativo" (in Italian). Retrieved 18 March 2022.
- ^ "Controfirma ministeriale" (in Italian). Retrieved 18 March 2022.
- ^ "Referendum: la prima volta del confermativo dopo 14 abrogativi" (in Italian). Retrieved 18 March 2022.
- ^ "Il rinvio presidenziale delle leggi" (in Italian). Retrieved 18 March 2022.
- ^ "Quali sono le fonti del diritto" (in Italian). Retrieved 18 March 2022.
- ^ "La Costituzione - Articolo 117" (in Italian). Retrieved 18 March 2022.
- The International University College of Turin. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
- ^ "Il diritto commerciale dalle origini ad oggi e la sua disciplina nel codice civile". Retrieved 19 March 2022.
- ^ "21 aprile 1942". Retrieved 19 March 2022.
- ^ "CODICE". Retrieved 19 March 2022.
- ^ a b "Codice Civile". Retrieved 19 March 2022.
- ^ ISBN 0198607563.
- ISBN 978-1-55239-664-3.
- ^ "The Italian Constitution". The official website of the Presidency of the Italian Republic. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 November 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
- ^ Adams, John Clarke and Barile, Paolo The Implementation of the Italian Constitution Archived 21 January 2022 at the Wayback Machine The American Political Science Review volume 47 no. 1 (pp. 61-83), March 1953
- ^ a b c "D.Lgs. 2 luglio 2010, n. 104" (in Italian). Retrieved 19 March 2022.
- ^ "Codice penale: leggi speciali e complementari" (in Italian). Retrieved 19 March 2022.
- ^ "REGIO DECRETO 19 ottobre 1930, n. 1398" (in Italian). Retrieved 19 March 2022.
- ^ a b "Il codice penale (o codice Rocco) della Repubblica Italiana" (in Italian). Retrieved 19 March 2022.
Bibliography
- Ettore Salvatore D'Elia and Mario Ragona. In Winterton and Moys (eds). Information Sources in Law. Second edition. Bowker-Saur. 1997. Chapter Sixteen: Italy. Pages 271 to 292.